Paul Schiro
Paul "Paulie the Indian" Schiro (born 1937) was a mobster in the Chicago Outfit with his base of operations in Phoenix, Arizona. He operated primarily in burglary and was one of the Outfit mobsters convicted of racketeering in the "Family Secrets" trial in Chicago, Illinois. Biography Schiro, a career criminal, first became associated with the Chicago Outfit through his close friendship with Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro, who from the 1970s until his murder in 1986, was the Outfits representative in Las Vegas, which also meant representing any thing west of the Mississippi River. Schiro was for a time, reportedly a member of the "Hole in the Wall Gang" led by Spilotro and mob soldier Frank Cullotta. He was nicknamed "The Indian" because of his physical resemblance to Native Americans. During the 1970s, Spilotro placed Schiro, then reputedly a soldier, in Scottsdale, Arizona. He ran the 'Scotch Mist' Restaurant, which many people from Chicago and California used as a hangout. Schiro was featured in a 1978 Arizona Republic special report on Mafia figures in the state. He was a business partner of 73-year-old Emil Vaci who once operated a mob-connected business ferrying gamblers to Las Vegas. After Spilotro's murder, Schiro allegedly became the overseer of the Chicago mob's interests in Arizona, before Schiro it was allegedly Jack Tocco, of the Detroit Partnership, who ran Chicago's interests in Phoenix. Schiro was also said to be allowed by the Outfit to carry out his own burglary activity in Arizona. Operation Family Secrets In 2005, the FBI turned in a 43-page indictment that was created by the "Family Secrets" investigation. "Operation Family Secrets" was unprecedented for the fact that it named the entire Chicago Outfit as a criminal enterprise. Schiro was among the indicted on charges of racketeering and murder. Schiro allegedly participated in the murder of Outfit associate Emil "Mal" Vaci. Vaci was murdered because he had been implicated with Jay Vandermark, a slot skim expert who cheated the Chicago mob by diverting some of the skim to himself. On June 7, 1986, Vaci's body was found wrapped in a tarp in a drainage ditch canal near 48th Street and Thomas Road (Phoenix) by a couple hiking in the desert. He had been shot in the back. The Outfit also feared that Vaci would cooperate with authorities. It was revealed by Outfit hitman-turned-government witness, Nicholas Calabrese, that Schiro acted as a lookout and listening to a police scanner during the hit on Vaci and also took part in the planning of Vaci's killing. Calabrese said he and an accomplice pulled Vaci into a van, then Calabrese shot Vaci several times in the head and dumped his body in a canal. This marked the second major mob conviction against Schiro: He was convicted in 2001 for his role in the mob-connected jewelry theft ring headed by William Hanhardt, a former Chicago police chief of detectives, and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison. In the "Family Secrets" trial, he was convicted only of racketeering but sentenced to 20 years in prison. Category:Chicago Outfit Category:Las Vegas Mobsters Category:Arizona Mobsters Category:Soldiers